The Problems Experienced by Employees with Chronic Disease during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Chronic diseases served as a silent global epidemic before the pandemic, and individuals living with chronic disease now form one of the groups most affected by COVID-19. This study aims to determine the problems that employees with chronic disease face during the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the study, data were collected from 952 individuals who live with chronic disease in Turkey. Of these, 76.6% of respondents worked for the public sector, a large majority of whom (67.7%) have worked full time during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was found that the COVID-19 fear level of employees living with chronic disease was higher than moderate (21.061 ± 7.607). When the variables affecting the COVID-19 fear level are listed in order of relative significance, eating problems, residing in the Mediterranean region, having asthma, and working as a female employee made the greatest impact, respectively. Necessary conditions of work should be provided to those living with chronic disease who could adapt themselves to working flexibly or working from home, so that they would not feel isolated from business life. This group should be provided with essential protective equipment, their working conditions must be reviewed and vaccination priority could be given to them.

FEAR ASSESSMENT WITH THE ‘DRAW A PERSON’ TEST OF THE DENTAL TREATMENT IN SPARING ENZYME-BASED EXCAVATION OF CARIES IN CHILDREN BETWEEN 4 AND 6 YEARS OF AGE

Aim The aim of the study is to assess fear with the ‘Draw a Person’ test in sparing enzyme-based excavation with Brix 3000 and conventional excavation when treating carious lesions in primary teeth. Materials and Methods The study involves 72 children aged 4-6. The enzyme-based excavation was used at 42 of the children and for the remaining 30 – conventional excavation with a bur. Each child has to complete the ‘Draw a Person’ Test: at home, before and after dental treatment in the dental office. The height of each figure is measured in centimeters using a ruler. Results and Conclusions Immediately prior to the dental treatment, a double reduction in the size of the figure in both groups could be observed, as compared to the figure drawn at home, which refers to an increase in the fear level. After the end of the treatment, in both groups, an increase could be observed as to the height of the figure drawn, and there is the impression that the height of the figures, drawn by children, where the carious lesions were excavated with Brix 3000 are closer to the figures drawn at home, compared to children treated using the conventional method.

Su Jok therapy by twist and seed method of therapy to reduce the level of fear on COVID-19’s patient: a case series

Patients with COVID-19 not only experience suffering from physiological symptoms but also psychological dimensions such as fear. Fear is part of life and the threat of self-existence will increase the fear level. Increased levels of fear will influence the process of healing by disturbing the immunity function. This case series reports the results of Su Jok therapy using the twist and seed method of therapy in reducing the level of fear of patients with COVID-19. Twenty cases of respondents with the average level of fear toward COVID-19 of ≥4 were included in this case reports. Fear level was measured by using the fear scale measurement (FSM). Su Jok therapy was conducted by twisting (120 times) and putting fenugreek seed on the joint of the patients’ index finger in Triorigin fixed joint correspondent of fear. Posttest of fear scale was measured after intervention in the intervals 5, 10 and 15 minutes. In all three interval measurements, there were significant improvements in the fear scale before and after Su Jok therapy (p=0.0001, p<0.05).

Present knowledge, attitude, practice, and fear level of Bangladeshi people towards covid-19 after one year of the pandemic situation: a web-based cross-sectional study.

In the earlier phase of the pandemic situation, the governments of Bangladesh badly suffered to adhere their people to preventive measures probably due to less knowledge and attitude towards covid-19. To tackle the second wave of coronavirus, the governments again enforced an array of preventive measures, but still encountering the same problem after a year of the pandemic situation. In an attempt to find out the reasons behind this, our study aimed to assess the present knowledge, attitude, practice, and fear level of the people. A cross-sectional study was conducted from 15th to 25th April 2021. A total of 402 participants met all the inclusion criteria and were considered for performing all statistical analyses (Descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, Multiple logistic regression, Spearman rank-order correlation). Out of 402 participants, more than 90% participants were students and all were adults aged 16 to 30. 84.6%, 65.7%, 54%, and 21.6% participants had more adequate knowledge, more positive attitude, more frequent practice, and moderate to high fear towards covid-19, respectively. Knowledge, attitude, practice, and fear were interrelated directly or indirectly. It was found knowledgeable participants were more likely to have more positive attitude (OR = 2.12, 95% CI = 1.14-3.95, P < 0.05) and very less fear (OR = 1.98, 95% CI = 1.02-3.82, P < 0.05). More positive attitude was found as a good predictor of more frequent practice (OR = 4.33, 95% CI = 2.66-7.04, P < 0.001), and very less fear had same negative impact on both attitude (OR = 0.48, 95% CI = 0.25-0.91, P < 0.05) and practice (OR = 0.48, 95% CI = 0.27-0.85, P < 0.05). Our findings reflect that knowledge level has elevated but attitude level subsided, and practice level stayed same as was in the earlier phase of pandemic and people are no longer panicked.

Prevalence and risk factors of worry among teachers during the COVID-19 epidemic in Henan, China: a cross-sectional survey

ObjectiveTo evaluate the level of worry and its influencing factors during the COVID-19 epidemic among teachers in Henan Province in China.Study designA cross-sectional study was conducted.MethodsWe designed a cross-sectional survey that included 88 611 teachers from three cities in Henan Province, China between 4 February 2020 and 12 February 2020. Level of worry was measured using a five-item Likert scale, with 1 being ‘not worried’ and 5 being ‘very worried’. The OR and 95% CI of potential influencing factors for level of worry among study participants were estimated using ordinal logistic regression models.ResultsAbout 59% of teachers reported being ‘very worried’ about the COVID-19 epidemic. The proportion of female teachers was higher than of male teachers (60.33% vs 52.89%). In all age groups considered in this study, a ‘very worried’ condition accounted for the highest proportion. The age group 40–49 years had the lowest proportion of participants who were very worried, 52.34% of whom were men and 58.62% were women. After controlling for potential confounding factors, age, education level, type of teacher, school location, attention level, fear level, anxiety level and behaviour status were all related to level of worry (all p<0.05).ConclusionDuring the COVID-19 epidemic, there was a high proportion of teachers who were ‘very worried’ about the situation in Henan Province, China. Our study may remind policymakers to consider factors including age, educational status, type of teacher, school location, source of information on COVID-19, attention level, anxiety level, fear level and behaviour status to alleviate worry.

The Relationship between Risk Perception and Risk Definition and Risk-Addressing Behaviour during the Early COVID-19 Stages

The purpose of this article is to show the effect of Risk Perception RP and Risk Definition RD on the Risk-Addressing Behaviour RB. To carry out this study secondary data was used from a semi-structured survey administered between February and June 2020, a period during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study identified six dimensions of risk perception and thus tested six structural models. Risk perception (ξ RP) is defined as an external latent variable in the study. It is also assumed that the risk perception variable may affect the risk definition variable (η RD). The application software SmartPLS was used to analyse data through exploratory factor analysis and partial least squares structural equation modelling on our research model. To achieve Convergent validity of the structural equation model of partial least squares, three criteria were met. In the study, Discriminant Validity was examined using the Fornell-Larcker criterion and Heterotrain-Monotrait Ratio (HTMT) coefficients. Results reveal that there is no direct relationship between the RB and “religion and beliefs”, the “fear level, the experience”, the “peer influences level” and the “openness”. However, we found a positive relationship between the agreement on “knowledge” and on RB and statistically significant relationships between the agreement on the RD and the agreement on the “religion and beliefs”, the “fear level”, the “experience”, the “knowledge”, the “peer influences level” and the RB. Moreover, there is an indirect relationship when controlling for the agreement on the RD between the agreement on the RB and the agreement on the “fear level”, the “experience”, the “knowledge” and the “peer influences level”. However, there is no relationship between the agreement on the “openness” and the agreement on the RB and a statistically significant but moderate relationship between the agreement on the RD and the agreement on the RB. Although, there seems to be abundant research on RP, so far we have found only a few studies on the influencing factors of RP, as effected by RB and RD, especially in distressed times such as during this current pandemic period of COVID-19. This study adds to body of literature and sheds new light on the interaction between RP, RB and RD in a time of distress. It provides important and original information that may be useful for government agencies, businesses, individuals, and the media when setting policies, governance structures, regulations, procedures and determining how to communicate.

Like Mother Like Child: Do Fearful Sows Have Fearful Piglets?

Gestational and early life experiences affect subsequent behavioural and physical development. The objective of the current study was to investigate associations between gilts’ fear of humans, gestational stress level, and feeding and maternal behaviour, as well as how these related to aspects of the personality and growth of their offspring. A total of 37 gilts were used. Four human approach tests were performed between d 104 and d 111 of gestation to classify gilts as fearful or friendly. Gilt feeding behaviour and salivary cortisol concentration was measured between d 90 and d 108 of gestation, and gilt nursing behaviour assessed at d 13 of lactation. Piglets were subject to a back test at d 13 of age, to an open field test and a human approach test at d 20 of age, and growth was monitored to weaning (d 26 of age). Gilts classified as having a fearful behavioural profile had higher cortisol levels than friendly gilts (p < 0.05). Human fear level did not affect reproductive performance or the growth of offspring (p > 0.05). The offspring of friendly gilts tended to have a more active response to the back test (p = 0.09), less freezing response in the open field test (p < 0.05), and received human contact more than piglets from fearful gilts (p < 0.05). The present study shows that gilt human fear level is linked to their stress levels, which can affect the personality of their piglets.

A kinetic theory approach for 2D crowd dynamics with emotional contagion

In this paper, we present a computational modeling approach for the dynamics of human crowds, where the spreading of an emotion (specifically fear) has an influence on the pedestrians’ behavior. Our approach is based on the methods of the kinetic theory of active particles. The model allows us to weight between two competing behaviors depending on fear level: the search for less congested areas and the tendency to follow the stream unconsciously (herding). The fear level of each pedestrian influences their walking speed and is influenced by the fear levels of their neighbors. Numerically, we solve our pedestrian model with emotional contagion using an operator splitting scheme. We simulate evacuation scenarios involving two groups of interacting pedestrians to assess how domain geometry and the details of fear propagation impact evacuation dynamics. Further, we reproduce the evacuation dynamics of an experimental study involving distressed ants.